Weekly Happiness Note September 19, 2024

5 Steps to Create Meaningful Goals on a Seasonal Basis

Sep 19, 2024

“Use the power of your imagination to stay motivated and excited about your goals.”

Happy Thursday! 🌞

How often do you carve out time to create meaningful goals? Do you find it hard to stay motivated to stay the course? The changing season is the perfect opportunity to make quarterly goals. In this week’s happiness note, “ 5 Steps to Create Meaningful Goals on a Seasonal Basis,” I’ll share a step-by-step framework to help you make clear goals and a plan to achieve them.

You can access this week's topic below (available for free subscribers) and consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive the weekly planning prompt and framework to set you up for September 23rd - September 29th.
❤ Emily

Here is a short 90-second video that highlights this week’s topic, and for the rest, read below:

This Week’s Featured Topic:

5 Steps to Create Meaningful Goals on a Seasonal Basis

How often do you carve out time to create meaningful goals throughout the year?

Are you in a routine of setting and meeting your personalized goals? Or are you more inclined to fly by the seat of your pants?

When the year ends, do you generally feel like you made full use of the time you were given? Or are you more likely to end the year hoping the next one will be different or better?

No matter which camp you fall into, there is an easy way to create meaningful goals to help you feel like you’re on your best track throughout the year.

It’s simply a matter of working with what nature provides. More specifically, it’s about utilizing the change in seasons as a segue to tune inward and map out your goals one season and step at a time.

Many companies implement a similar process, referred to as quarterly planning. In quarterly planning, the yearly plan is divided into four quarters. Every three months, goals are set, strategic plans are documented, and achievements are celebrated.

As a professional coach, I’m accustomed to supporting my clients in creating meaningful and realistic goals throughout the year. The process of setting goals often starts by mapping out the big picture of where, when, and how they spend their time. Then, we look at what their definition of success and happiness includes. I’m always inspired to witness others create their own clarity and plan for loving their lives.

I’ve come to notice in my life and witness in the lives of others that what often gets in the way of having a fulfilling life is not a lack of resourcefulness or awareness of what we want. It’s usually that the days are long and the years are short, and we just kind of fall into habits where we forget to tune inward to recognize if we are on our best path.

That’s why I started using the four seasons throughout the year as time markers to initiate a reset and plan for my season ahead. My seasonal planning ensures that I never veer too far away from my personal definition of success and happiness. After all, a new season and opportunity for a reset are always right around the corner.

These are the five steps I use each season to create meaningful goals that support me in loving the life I’m in. If you’re looking for a seasonal reset or want to make some new goals, try these steps and see what shifts for you.

Step 1: Clarity

The challenge in our noisy, busy world is not that we lack access to information or knowledge. The challenge many of us face is being still and quiet long enough to hear our inner nudges and wisdom. That clarity of thought and feeling helps us stay on our best track.

As you get ready to start a new season, carve out a bit of time to clear your mind on the big picture of your life. Remove any unnecessary noise or distraction. Make a list of what is working well in your life right now. Ask yourself what needs to change, and then trust the answer that comes.

Take a snapshot of your current level of satisfaction in the different areas of your life. Use this information – as precisely that – it’s information to help inform your next steps. Please don’t use it as fuel to feel bad about what is or what isn’t going well. Spend some time getting clear.

Step 2: Celebrate

It’s more fun to get to where we are going when we celebrate where we are right now.

Celebrate how far you’ve come this year, this season, this month, this week, this day, this hour. You get the idea. Celebrate your wins, big and small. Celebrate being on a human journey at this particular time in history. It’s a bumpy ride, yet here you are day after day, showing up and doing your best. That’s worth pausing at least every season, if not every day, to acknowledge and celebrate.

Step 3: Focus

It’s easier to get to where we are going when we know where we are headed.

Go back to step 1. What came to the surface when you became clear on the big picture of your life? Is there a specific area of your life that feels important for creating goals right now? What feels important to you at this point?

Pick an area of focus you’d like to create goals and action steps in over the next 3-month period. Write down what comes to you in as much detail as possible.

Step 4: Be Realistic

When you’ve narrowed down your focus on implementing change and goals, it’s important to have a realistic and clear picture of what that change looks like, feels like, feels like, walks like, and talks like. Look at the big picture of the overall goal and then apply a little reverse engineering.

Start with the big picture and then work your way backward, filling in the necessary steps and goals to reach your desired outcome. Write down your plan as you go. Don’t forget to add in potential roadblocks and the necessary support to help you stay the course.

Make sure your goal(s) meet the SMART goals guide criteria. This will help you set goals and steps to prepare you for success. SMART goals are meant to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Usually, the big, overwhelming picture of a dream and goal prevents the dreamer from taking action. But breaking down that big picture into small, realistic steps is simply a matter of showing up each day and putting one foot in front of the other.

Step 5: Visualize

Use the power of your imagination to stay motivated and excited about your goals and life.

Spend a bit of time each day imagining how it will feel to reach your goals and dreams. It doesn’t need to be a lot of time.

This visualization space is not a place to worry or attach to how you think it will come to life. Let go of trying to predict the exact journey and instead lean in and use this space to pretend you’ve already arrived. How does that feel?

Get close up and personal with that feeling to the point that you’re actually spending time each day feeling that desired feeling. It’s one of the most important and, by far, the most fun steps in setting and reaching your goals.

What do you want to bring to life over this next season? How do you most want to feel in 3-months?

If you’d like some added support to create your goals this season, check out my Free Seasonal Life Balance Wheel E-Course.

❤ Emily

This Week’s Quote:

Limited on time or don’t feel like reading

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Subscribe above to unlock your weekly planning prompt, including a printable planning framework for September 23rd - September 29th.

Planning for Next Week📝:

Use the framework below to plan your upcoming week: September 23rd- September 29th. Some people like to map out their forthcoming week on Friday to ease into the weekend, knowing they are ready to hit the road running on Monday. Others (like myself) have a Sunday planning ritual. Do what works best for you. Over the years, in supporting many people in their planning and goal-setting, it seems to work best to pick a day of the week that’s easy to stick to so that your weekly planning becomes a habit and ritual.

What are your wins? Before you organize the upcoming week, ‘September 23rd- September 29th’, reflect on the week you are wrapping up. What are your wins (big or small)? What is something you are grateful for? What have you learned about yourself this week? Record your reflections in your journal or the Notes section of the Planner Printout. Feel free to comment below (others in this community will also be able to see your comment) or hit reply to this note and share directly with me.

Planner PDF printout: This printout is from the ‘Fall in Love with Your Life, Seasonal Planner’ and will give you the framework and planning system to help you organize your upcoming week: September 23rd- September 29th. Click here to access. You will need to enter a password to open the PDF. It’s in all caps: FILWYL

Accountability: If you’d like an accountability check-in to support you in making the weekly planning ritual a regular habit, just hit reply to this email after you’ve organized your week and let me know you’re organized and complete. Feel free to share your weekly intention/power word. I’m always happy to be the check-in support and would love to celebrate your wins.

Instructional Video: Get free access to this mini 20-minute video course. It will show you how to efficiently use the ‘Fall in Love With Your Life, Seasonal Planner’ method of organizing your week. Go here to access the free video course.

Priorities: What are your top three priorities for the upcoming week? What are some of the daily ways you will prioritize yourself? Remember to balance your energy output with energy input. Think: What has been energizing me lately? What has been draining my energy?

Connect with Nature: I’m visiting Toronto this week and made a trip up the CN tower to take in the sunset. It was breathtaking! Quite literally, if you are someone who has a fear of heights. Luckily, I don’t. While I was taking in the view, I couldn’t help but think about the awe that nature provides and the awe that humans are capable of building and creating.

Journal reflection point prompted by nature: In what ways do humans live in harmony with nature? In what ways are we at odds with natures? How are we similar and how are we different?

Share your intention for the week of September 23rd- September 29th. What are you calling in? What is your power word/phrase?

Weekly Happiness Note with Emily Madill

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